Bowing

Bowing as a gesture of respect, worship, or submission appears throughout Scripture in a variety of social and religious contexts. Abraham bowed to the people of the land when negotiating for Sarah's burial place (Gen. 23:7); Jacob bowed seven times before Esau as a sign of submission and reconciliation (Gen. 33:3); and Joseph's brothers bowed before him, unconsciously fulfilling his earlier dreams (Gen. 43:28). The bow was the standard Near Eastern gesture of respect toward superiors, kings, and gods alike.

The religious prohibition on bowing before idols or foreign gods (Ex. 20:5; 23:24) gave the gesture a deeply theological dimension: bowing was an act of acknowledgment of authority and worth, reserved for God alone in the context of worship. Naaman's request for permission to bow in the house of Rimmon when accompanying his master (2 Kings 5:18) illustrates the tension between political obligation and religious loyalty. Psalm 95:6 invites Israel to “bow down and kneel before the LORD our Maker,” and Philippians 2:10 extends this universal homage eschatologically to every knee bowing at the name of Jesus.